Sick Agent Orange vets owed benefits, rules U.S. court
Subject: Sick Agent Orange vets owed benefits, rules U.S. court
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 07:18:31 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Sick Agent Orange vets owed benefits, rules
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that held the Veterans Administration incorrectly interpreted rules to deny retroactive payments to veterans who filed claims after early 1994.
The court's three-judge panel held that the VA was bound
under the terms of a 1991 consent decree to pay the benefits, in many cases back
to the date the veteran first claimed them. The ruling marked a victory for
activists who have been seeking compensation and care for tens of thousands of
The National Veterans Legal Services Program, which filed the initial Agent Orange suit in 1986, said the court's decision would guarantee payments to an estimated 1,200 veterans with Agent Orange-related prostate cancer as well as thousands more who suffer from adult-onset diabetes.
In both cases, the Veterans Administration had sought to deny retroactive payments on the grounds that the diseases' connection with Agent Orange was not scientifically established when payment regulations were promulgated in 1994. ... Copyright 2002, Reuters
Well Mr. Helliker, Justice moves slowly, but it eventually moves. One day many people will be paid benefits for their exposures to your "registered" POISONS that give no "benefits".
Respectfully, Stephen L, Tvedten
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